First Guthirt Church (Ostermundigen)

First Guthirt Church

The first Guthirt church (Iglesia El buen Pastor) at Sophiestrasse 5 in Ostermundigen was built as the first church in the area for the Roman Catholic Guthirt parish . It has served as a place of worship for the Roman Catholic, Spanish-speaking Mission Bern since 1986.

history

The municipal areas of Ostermundigen and the places in Worblental were originally looked after by the Marien parish in Bern. At the request of Pastor Ernst Simonett, a plot of land on Sophiestrasse in Ostermundigen was purchased in 1932 in order to build a church there for the extensive area. The foundation stone was laid on April 11, 1937. According to the plans of the architect Alban Gerster and the collaboration of Wilhelm Meyer, the church with tower and attached parish hall was built in six months. The church was consecrated on October 17, 1937. It was the first consecration of the newly elected Bishop Franziskus von Streng , to whom the parish was well known from his work as vicar of the Bernese Trinity Church responsible for Ostermundigen . The rectory was built in 1942 and Emil Hänggi was the first priest to move in there. The parish Guthirt was only officially recognized in 1967.

Construction and equipment

Interior overview

As a simple hall with a retracted rectangular choir, still in the style of a traditional processional church, with a central aisle leading to the raised chancel and pews strictly arranged on both sides, the church has presented itself unchanged since the construction time. The large cross on the apex of the choir has existed since the church was consecrated. The altar and the rest of the furnishings were later adapted to the new liturgy. Five narrow windows with segmented arches are let into the longitudinal walls of the ship. The glazing with colored, rectangular panes was done according to Signature of the Bern art glassworks Carl Reich. The baptism of Jesus by John is shown in the round window under the gallery . The pictures of the 14 Stations of the Cross are hung on both sides under the row of windows . On the right choir wall there is a wooden statue of the Virgin Mary raised on a column. There is a small organ in the middle of the gallery. On the tower attached to the left of the choir hang three bells and a mechanical clockwork for the four faces of the tower clock.

literature

Karl Ludwig Schmalz et al .: Ostermundigen: history, community development, old views . Residential community Ostermundigen, Ostermundigen 1983.
Fritz Dürig et al .: Community development, history . Residential community Ostermundigen, Ostermundigen 2003.
Gabriela Hanke et al .: Catholic Bern from 1799 to 1999. A stopover . Total Roman Catholic parish of Bern and the surrounding area, Bern 1999.

Web links

Commons : First Guthirt Church - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

^ Website of the Spanish-speaking Mission
^ Karl Ludwig Schmalz et al .: Ostermundigen: History, community development, old views . Residential community Ostermundigen, Ostermundigen 1983, p. 58-59 .

46.959149 7.48664Coordinates: 46 ° 57 '32.9 " N , 7 ° 29' 11.9" E ; CH1903: six hundred and three thousand six hundred and fifty-four / 200898

[1] Website of the Spanish-speaking Mission

[2] Karl Ludwig Schmalz et al .: Ostermundigen: History, community development, old views . Residential community Ostermundigen, Ostermundigen 1983, p. 58-59 .